A wildfire burned just over one acre of dry grass and brush on a bench above the Chewuch River about 3 miles from Winthrop on Friday evening (June 27). The fire was reported near East Chewuch and Walter roads around 7 p.m. Responders included Okanogan County Fire District 6 fire chiefs and 15 volunteers from...

About two dozen hand crews, a helicopter with a water bucket, and a bulldozer attacked several spot fires southeast of Twisp on Sunday afternoon (June 21). The fires sent up a significant plume of smoke …

A hand crew from the U.S. Forest Service had completed a fire line around 30 percent of a 1/10-acre fire caused by lightning near Silver Star Creek on the North Cascades Highway as of Friday afternoon (May 22). The fire was burning in timber and brush about one-quarter mile off the North Cascades Highway on...

With the first lightning-caused fire in the county in early May and the governor’s declaration of a statewide drought this week, government officials and the general public are nervously anticipating another extra-dry summer.
In terms of funding and actual resources — firefighting …

Researchers studying the social impacts of wildfires will be in the area later this month to talk to people about their experiences during the Carlton Complex Fire. The University of Idaho researchers are interested in how people made decisions about evacuation and other matters during the emergency. They will also look at long-term recovery. They...

Wildfire season has officially begun in Washington state. The Department of Natural Resources said in a press release that the season began on April 15. DNR said that it has already had more than 60 forest fires reported this year on lands protected by the agency. “This year, we have ominous predictions for a hot,...

Firefighters were expected to contain the U.S. portion of a small fire on the Canadian border by Tuesday (April 21), the U.S. Forest Service said in a press release. The fire is north of Chopaka Mountain on lands managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management. U.S. and Canadian crews have been involved fighting the...

A bill intended to expedite firefighting by allowing people to fight a fire on private or public land before it spreads passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate in the past month. The legislation would also make better use of local resources near a fire and create a network …

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has organized a series of wildfire preparedness meetings in eastern Washington, including sessions in Twisp and Omak. These meetings, free and open to the public, are aimed at helping residents in fire-prone areas think ahead and prepare for wildfire season. The Twisp meeting will be on April...

On the heels of Gov. Jay Inslee’s March 13 declaration of drought for three Washington regions comes a forecast predicting dust storms and wildfires in the months ahead. The same conditions that set the stage for the drought — above-average temperatures and low snowpack — are also expected to create dry fields and forest beds in central and eastern...